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SITXJ^.TIO!sr I3ST CUBA. 



[Let the men -whose loyalty is to the dollar stand aside, while the men whose 
loyalty is to the flag come to the front. 

The time for action has come. No greater reason for it can exist to-morrow 
than exists to-day. Every hour's delay only adds another chapter to the awful 
story of misery and death. 

"We can net intervene and save Cuba without the exercise of force, and force 
means war; war means blood. The lowly Nazarene on the shores of Galilee 
preached the divine doctrine of love, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." 
Not peace on earth at the expense of liberty and humanity. Not good will 
toward men who despoil, enslave, degrade, and starve to death their fellow-men. 
I believe in the doctrine of Christ. 1" believe in the doctrine of peace; but, Mr. 
President, men must have liberty before there can come abiding peace.] 



SPEECH 



OP 



HON. JOHN M. THURSTON, 



OW NEBEASKA, 



IN THE 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



Thursday, March 24, 1898. 



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1898. 



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SPEECH 

OF 

HON. JOHN M. THURSTON. 



AFFAIRS IN CUBA. 



Mr. THURSTON. Mr. President, I am here by command of silent 
lips to speak once and for all upon the Cuban situation. I trust that 
no one has expected anything sensational from me. God forbid that 
the bitterness of a personal loss should induce me to color in the 
slightest degree the statement that I feel it my duty to make. I 
shall endeavor to be honest, conservative, and just. I have no 
purpose to stir the public passion to any action not necessary and 
imperative to meet the duties and necessities of American re- 
sponsibility, Christian humanity, and national honor. I would 
shirk this task if I could, but I dare not. I can not satisfy my 
conscience except by speaking, and speaking now. 

Some three weeks since, three Senators and two Representatives 
in Congress accepted the invitation of a great metropolitan news- 
paper to make a trip to Cuba and personally investigate and re- 
port upon the situation there. Our invitation was from a news- 
paper whose political teachings I have never failed to antagonize 
and denounce, and whose journalism I have considered decidedly 
sensational. But let me say, for the credit of the proprietor of 
the paper in question, that I believe the invitation extended to us 
was inspired by his patriotic desire to have the actual condition 
of affairs in Cuba brought to the attention of the American peo- 
ple in such a way that the facts would no longer remain in con- 
troversy or dispute. 

"We were not asked to become the representatives of the paper; 
no conditions or restrictions were imposed upon us; we were left 
free to conduct the investigation in our own way, make our own 
plans, pursue our own methods, take our own time, and decide for 
ourselves upon the best manner of laying the result of our labors 
before the American people. For myself I went to Cuba firmly 
believing that the condition of affairs there had been greatly exag- 
gerated by the press, and my own efforts were directed in the first 
instance to the attempted exposure of these supposed exaggera- 
tions. 

316.-) 3 



Mr. President, there has undoubtedly been much sensationalism 
in the journalism of the time, but as to the condition of affairs in 
Cuba there has been no exaggeration, because exaggeration has 
been impossible. I have read the careful statement of the junior 
Senator from Vermont [Mr. Proctor], and I find that he has 
anticipated me in almost every detail. From my own personal 
knowledge of the situation, I adopt every word of his concise, 
conservative, specific presentation as my own; nay, more, I am 
convinced that he has, in a measure, understated the facts. I 
absolutely agree with him in the following conclusions: 

After three years of warfare and the use of 225,000 Spanish 
troops, Spain has lost control of every foot of Cuba not surrounded 
by an actual intrenchment and protected by a fortified picket line. 

She holds possession with her armies of the fortified seaboard 
towns, not because the insurgents could not capture many of them, 
but because they are under the virtual protection of Spanish war 
Bhips, with which the revolutionists can not cope. 

The revolutionists are in absolute and almost peaceful posses- 
sion of nearly one-half of the island, including the eastern provinces 
of Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe. In those provinces 
they have an established form of government, levy and collect 
taxes, maintain armies, and generally levy a tax or tribute upon 
the principal plantations in the other provinces, and, as is com- 
monly believed, upon the entire railway system of the island. 

In the four so-called Spanish provinces there is neither cultiva- 
tion nor railway operation except under strong Spanish military 
protection or by consent of the revolutionists in consideration of 
tribute paid. 

SUFFERINGS OF THE COUNTRY PEOPLE. 

Under the inhuman policy of Weyler not less than 400,000 self- 
supporting, simple, peaceable, defenseless country people were 
driven from their homes in the agricultural portions of the Span- 
ish provinces to the cities and imprisoned upon the barren waste 
outside the residence portions of these cities and within the bines 
of intrenchment established a little way beyond. Their humble 
homes were burned, their fields laid waste, their implements of 
husbandry destroyed, their live stock and food supplies for the 
most part confiscated. Most of these people were old men, women, 
and children. They were thus placed in hopeless imprisonment, 
without shelter or food. There was no work for them in the 
cities to which they were driven. They were left there with noth- 
ing to depend upon except the scanty charity of the inhabitants 
of the cities and with slow starvation their inevitable fate. 

It is conceded upon the best ascertainable authority, and those 
who have had access to the public records do not hesitate to state, 
that upward of 210,000 of these people have already perished, all 
from starvation or from diseases incident to starvation. 

8165 



The Government of Spain has never contributed one dollar to 
house, shelter, feed, or provide medical attention for these its 
own citizens. Such a spectacle exceeds the scenes of the Inferno 
as painted by Dante. 

There has been no amelioration of the situation except through 
the charity of the people of the United States. There has been no 
diminution in the death rate among these reconcentrados except 
as the death supply is constantly diminished. There can be no 
relief and no hope except through the continued charity of the 
American people until peace shall be fully restored in the island 
and until a humane government shall return these people to their 
homes and provide for them anew the means with which to begin 
again the cultivation of the soil. 

Spain can not put an end to the existing condition. She can 
not conquer the insurgents. She can not reestablish her sover- 
eignty over any considerable portion of the interior of the island. 
The revolutionists, while able to maintain themselves, can not 
drive the Spanish army from the fortified seacoast towns. 

The situation, then, is not war as we understand it, but a chaos 
of devastation and depopulation of undefined duration, whose end 
no man can see. 

I will cite but a few facts that came under my personal observa- 
tion, all tending to fully substantiate the absolute truth of the 
foregoing propositions. I could detail incidents by the hour and 
by the day, but the Senator from Vermont has absolutely covered 
the case. I have no desire to deal in horrors. If I had my way, I 
would shield the American public even from the photographic 
reproductions of the awful scenes that I viewed in all their original 
ghastliness. 

SPAIN'S FORCES IN CUBA. 

Spain has sent to Cuba more than 225,000 soldiers to subdue the 
island, whose entire male population capable of bearing arms did 
not exceed at the beginning that number. These soldiers were 
mostly boys, conscripts from the Spanish hills. They are well 
armed, but otherwise seem to be absolutely unprovided for. They 
have been without tents and practically without any of the neces- 
sary supplies and equipment for service in the field. They have 
been put in barracks, in warehouses, and old buildings in the 
cities where all sanitary surroundings have been of the worst pos- 
sible character. They have seen but little discipline, and I could 
not ascertain that such a thing as a drill had taken place in the 
island. 

There are less than "60,000 now available for duty. The balance 
are dead or sick in hospitals, or have been sent back to Spain as 
incapacitated for further service. It is currently stated that there 
are now 37,000 sick in hospital. I do not believe that the entire 



6 

Spanish army in Cuba could stand, an engagement in the open 
field against 20,000 well-disciplined American soldiers. 

As an instance of the discipline among them I cite the fact that 
I bought the machete of a Spanish soldier on duty at the wharf in 
Matanzas, on his offer, for $3 in Spanish silver. He also seemed 
desirous of selling me his only remaining arm, a revolver. 

The Spanish soldiers have not been paid for some months, and in 
my judgment they, of all the people on the earth, will most gladly 
welcome any result which would permit them to return to their 
homes in Spain. 

The pictures in the American newspapers of the starving re- 
concentrados are true. They can all be duplicated by the thou- 
sands. I never saw, and please God I may never again see, so 
deplorable a sight as the reconcentrados in the suburbs of Matan- 
zas. I can never forget to my dying day the hopeless anguish in 
their despairing eyes. Huddled about their little bark huts, they 
raised no voice of appeal to us for alms as we went among them. 

There was almost no begging by the reconcentrados themselves. 
The streets of the cities are full of beggars of all ages and all con- 
ditions, but they are almost wholly of the residents of the cities 
and largely of the professional-beggar class. The reconcentra- 
dos — men, women, and children — stand silent, famishing with 
hunger. Their only appeal comes from their sad eyes, through 
which one looks as through an open window into their agonizing 
souls. 

The present autonomist governor of Matanzas (who speaks ex- 
cellent English) was inaugurated in November last. His records 
disclose that at the city of Matanzas there were 1,200 deaths in 
November, 1,200 in December, 700 in January, and 500 in Febru- 
ary — 3,600 in four months, and those four months under the ad- 
ministration of a governor whom I believe to be a truly humane 
man. He stated to me that on the day of his inauguration, which 
I think was the 12th of last November, to his personal knowl- 
edge 15 persons died in the public square in front of the executive 
mansion. Think of it, oh, my countrymen! Fifteen human beings 
dying from starvation in the public square, in the shade of the 
palm trees, and amid the beautiful flowers, in sight of the open 
windows of the executive mansion! 

The governor of Matanzas told us that for the most part the peo- 
ple of the city of Matanzas had done all they could foi the recon- 
centrados; and after studying the situation over I believe his state- 
ment is true. He said the condition of affairs in the island had 
destroyed the trade, the commerce, and the business of the city; 
that most of the people who had the means assisted the reconcen- 
trados with food just as long as they could, but he said tq us that 
there were thousands of the people living in fine houses on mar- 

3165 



ble floors who were in deep need themselves and who did not know 
from one day to the other where their food supply was corning 
from. 

SPAIN'S SELFISHNESS A STENCH IN THE NOSTRILS OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. 

The ability of the people of Matanzas to aid is practically ex- 
hausted. The governor told us that he had expended all of his 
salary and all that he could possibly afford of his private means in 
relief work. He is willing that the reconcentrados shall repass 
the picket line and go back to seek work in the interior of the 
island. He expresses his willingness to give them passes for that 
purpose, but they are no longer physically able to take advantage 
of that offer. They have no homes to return to; their fields have 
grown up to weeds; they have no oxen, no implements of hus- 
bandry with which to begin anew the cultivation of the soil. 
Their only hope is to remain where they are, to live as long as 
they can on an insufficient charity, and then die. What is true 
at Matanzas is true at all the other cities where these reconcen- 
trados have been gathered. 

The Government of Spain has not and will not appropriate one 
dollar to save these people. They are now being attended and 
nursed and administered to by the charity of the United States. 
Think of the spectacle! We are feeding these citizens of Spain; 
we are nursing their sick; we are saving such as can be saved, and 
yet there are those who still say it is right for us to send food, but 
we must keep hands off. I say that the time has come when mus- 
kets ought to go with the food. 

We asked the governor if he knew of any relief for these people 
except through the charity of the United States. He did not. 
We then asked him, ' ' Can you see any end to this condition of 
affairs?" He could not. We asked him, "When do you think 
the time will come that these people can be placed in a position 
of self-support?" He replied to us, with deep feeling, " Only the 
good God or the great Government of the United States can 
answer that question." I hope and believe that the good God 
by the great Government of the United States will answer that 
question. 

I shall refer to these horrible things no further. They are there. 
God pity me; I have seen them; they will remain in my mind for- 
ever — and this is almost the twentieth century. Christ died nine- 
teen hundred years ago, and Spain is a Christian nation. She has 
set up more crosses in more lands, beneath more skies, and under 
them has butchered more people than all the other nations of the 
earth combined. 

Europe may tolerate her existence as long as the people of the 
Old World wish. God grant that before another Christinas morn- 
3165 



fiig the last vestige of Spanish tyranny and oppression will have 
vanished from the Western Hemisphere. 

Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Vermont has 
seen all these things; he knows all these things; he has described 
all these things; but after describing them he says he has nothing 
to propose, no remedy to suggest. I have. I am only an humble 
unit in the great Government of the United States, but I should 
feel myself a traitor did I remain silent now. 

SILENCE AND MODERATION NO LONGER TOLERABLE. . 

I counseled silence and moderation from this floor when the 
passion of the nation seemed at white heat over the destruction 
of the Maine; but it seems to me the time for action has now 
come. Not action in the Maine case! I hope and trust that this 
Government will take action on the Cuban situation entirely out- 
side of the Maine case. When the Maine report is received, if it 
be found that our ship and sailors were blown up by some outside 
explosive, we will have ample reparation without quibble or de- 
lay; and if the explosion can be traced to Spanish official sources 
there will be such swift and terrible punishment adjudged as will 
remain a warning to the world forever. 

What shall the United States do, Mr. President? 

I am a Republican, and I turn to the last platform of my party 
and I read: 

From the hour of achieving their own independence the people of the United 
States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other American people 
to free themselves from European domination. We watch with deep and 
abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and 
oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined 
contest for liberty. 

The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba and being unable 
to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or to comply 
with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Government of the United 
States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and 
give independence to the island. 

Mr. President, when that declaration was read before the St. 
Louis convention, over which I had the distinguished honor to 
preside, it was greeted with a mighty shout which seemed to lift 
the very roof of that great convention hall, and it was adopted as 
a part of the platform of the Republican party by unanimous vote. 
On the 29th day of June, 1896, William McKinley, standing upon 
his vine-clad porch at Canton, Ohio, in accepting the nomination 
then officially tendered him, said: 

The platform adopted by the Republican national convention has received 
my careful consideration and has my unqualified approval. It is a matter 
of gratification to me, as I am sure it must be to you and Republicans every- 
where and to all our people, that the expressions of its declaration of principles 
are so direct, clear, and emphatic. They are too plain and positive to leave 
any chance for doubt or question as to their purport and meaning. 
3165 



9 

That platform of the Republican party, that indorsement by its 
nominee for President, was ratified by more than 7,000,000 Amer- 
ican voters. That platform has marked my path of duty from 
the hour of its adoption up to the present time. 

RECORD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN KEEPING ITS PLEDGES. 

It is an honored boast of the Republican party that it always 
keeps its promises and that its platform declarations are always 
carried out by its Administrations. I have no reason to doubt, I 
have every reason to believe, that the present Chief Magistrate 
of the United States still stands upon the platform of the Repub- 
lican party. I have no reason to doubt, I have every reason to 
believe, that he will make its fulfillment a part of the glorious 
history of the world. 

Mr. President, that platform was adopted almost two years ago. 
Has there been any such change in the Cuban situation as to re- 
lieve the Republican party from its obligations? None whatever. 
There has been no change except such as to strengthen the force 
of our platform assertion that Spain has lost control of the island. 
Twice within the last two years I have voted for a resolution ac- 
cording the rights of belligerents to the Cuban revolutionists. 

I believed at those times, I still believe, that such a recognition on 
our part would have enabled the Cuban patriots to have achieved 
independence for themselves; that it would have given them such 
a standing in the money markets of the world, such rights on the 
sea, such flag on the land, that ere this the independence of Cuba 
would have been secured, and that without cost or loss of blood 
or treasure to the people of the United States. But that time has 
passed; it is too late to talk about resolutions according belligerent 
rights; and mere resolutions recognizing the independence of the 
Cuban Republic would avail but little. Our platform demands 
that the United States shall actively use its influence for the inde- 
pendence of the island. 

I am not here to criticise the present Administration. I yield 
to no man living in my respect, my admiration for, and my con- 
fidence in the judgment, the wisdom, the patriotism, the Amer- 
icanism of William McKinley. "When he entered upon his Ad- 
ministration he faced a difficult situation. It was his duty to 
proceed with care and caution. At the first available opportunity 
he addressed a note to Spain, in which he gave that Government 
notice, as set forth in his message to the Congress of the United 
States, that the United States— 

could be required to wait only a reasonable time for the mother country to 
establish its authority and restore peace and order within the borders of the 
island; that we could not contemplate an indefinite period for the accom- 
plishment of this result. 
31fi5 



10 

The President further advised us: 

This Government has never in any way abrogated its sovereign preroga- 
tive of reserving to itself the determination of its policy and course accord- 
ing to its own high sense of right and in consonance with the dearest interests 
and convictions of our own people should the prolongation of the strife so 
demand. 

This was the proper, the statesmanlike beginning of the per- 
formance of the promise of the Republican platform. It was in 
accordance with the diplomatic usages and customs of civilized 
nations. In the meantime the whole situation apparently changed. 
In Spain the liberal ministry of Sagasta succeeded that of Cano- 
vas; the cruel and inhuman Weyler was recalled, and succeeded 
by the humane Blanco, who, uader the Sagasta ministry, has un- 
questionably made every effort to bring about peace in the island 
of Cuba under the promise of autonomy— a decided advance be- 
yond any proposition ever before made for the participation of the 
Cubans in their own domestic affairs. 

It was the plain duty of the President of the United States to 
give to the liberal ministry of Spain a reasonable time in which 
to test its proposed autonomy. That time has been given. Au- 
tonomy is conceded the wide world over to be a conspicuous fail- 
ure. The situation in Cuba has only changed for the worse. 
Sagasta is powerless; Blanco is powerless to put an end to the con- 
flict, to rehabilitate the island, or to relieve the suffering, starva- 
tion, and distress. 

TIME FOB ACTION NOW. 

The time for action has, then, come. No greater reason for it 
can exist to-morrow than exists to-day. Every hour's delay only 
adds another chapter to the awful story of misery and death. 
Only one power can intervene — the United States of America. 
Ours is the one great nation of the New World, the mother of 
American republics. She holds a position of trust and responsi- 
bility toward the peoples and the affairs of the whole Western 
Hemisphere. 

It was her glorious example which inspired the patriots of Cuba 
to raise the flag of liberty in her eternal hills. We can not refuse 
to accept this responsibility which the God of the universe has 
placed upon us as the one great power in the New World. We 
must act! What shall our action be? Some say the acknowledg- 
ment of the belligerency of the revolutionists. As I have already 
shown, the hour and the opportunity for that have passed away. 

Others say, Let us by resolution or official proclamation recog- 
nize the independence of the Cubans. It is too late even for such 
recognition to be of great avail. Others say, Annexation to the 
United States. G-od forbid! I would oppose annexation with 
my latest breath. The people of Cuba are not our people; they 
8165 



_J 



11 

can not assimilate with us; and beyond all that I am utterly and 
unalterably opposed to any departure from the declared policy of 
the fathers which would start this Republic for the first time 
upon a career of conquest and dominion utterly at variance with 
the avowed purposes and the manifest destiny of popular gov- 
ernment. 

Let the world understand that the United States does not pro- 
pose to annex Cuba, that it is not seeking a foot of Cuban soil or 
a dollar of Spanish treasure. Others say, Let us intervene for the 
pacification of the island, giving to its people the greatest measure 
of autonomy consistent with the continued sovereignty of Spain. 
Such a result is no longer possible. It is enough to say that it 
would be resisted by all classes of the Cuban population, and its 
attempt would simply transfer the putting down of the revolution 
and the subjugation of the Cuban patriots to the armies of the 
United States. 

There is also said to be a syndicate organization in this country, 
representing the holders of Spanish bonds, who are urging that 
the intervention of the United States shall be for the purchase of 
the island or for the guaranteeing of the Spanish debt incurred 
in the attempted subjugation of the Cuban revolutionists. Mr. 
President, it is idle to think for a single moment of such a plan. 
The American people will never consent to the payment of one 
dollar, to the guaranteeing of one bond, as the price paid to Spain 
for her relinquishment of the island she has so wantonly outraged 
and devastated. 

INTERVENTION FOS INDEPENDENCE. 

Mr. President, there is only one action possible, if any is taken; 
that is, intervention for the independence of the island; interven- 
tion that means the landing of an American army on Cuban 
soil, the deploying of an American fleet off Habana; interven- 
tion which says to Spain, Leave the island, withdraw your 
soldiers, leave the Cubans, these brothers of ours in the New 
World, to form and carry on government for themselves. Such 
intervention on our part would not of itself be war. It would un- 
doubtedly lead to war. But if war came it would come by act of 
Spain in resistance of the liberty and the independence of the 
Cuban people. 

Some say these Cubans are incapable of self-government; that 
they can not be trusted to set up a republic. Will they ever be- 
come better qualified under Spanish rule than they are to-day? 
Sometime or other the dominion of kings must cease o.n the West- 
ern Continent. 

The Senator from Vermont has done full justice to the native 
population of Cuba. He has studied them, and he knows that of 
all the people on the island they are the best qualified and fitted for 

3165 



12 

government. Certainly any government by the Cuban people 
would be better than the t} r ranny of Spain. 

Mr. President, there was a time when "jingoism" was abroad 
in the land; when sensationalism prevailed, and when there was 
a distinct effort to inflame the passions and prejudices of the 
American people and precipitate a war with Spain. That time 
has passed away. ' ' Jingoism " is long since dead. The American 
people have waited and waited and waited in patience; yea, in 
patience and confidence — confidence in the belief that decisive 
action would be taken in due season and in a proper way. To-day 
all over this land the appeal comes up to us; it reaches us from 
every section and from every class. That appeal is now for action. 

In an interview of yesterday, the senior Senator from Maine 
[Mr. Hale] is reported as saying: 

Events have crowded on too rapidly, and the President has been carried 
off bis feet. 

I know of no warrant for such an assertion, but I do know this, 
that unless Congress acts promptly, meeting this grave crisis as 
it should be met, we will be swept away, and we ought to be swept 
away, by the tidal wave of American indignation. 

The President has not been carried off his feet. 

The Administration has been doing its whole duty. With rare 
foresight and statesmanship it has hastened to make every possi- 
ble preparation for any emergency. If it be true that the report 
in the Maine case has been delayed, it has been delayed in order 
that we might be prepared at all points for defensive and offen- 
sive action. There are some who say, but they are mostly those 
who have procrastinated from the beginning up to the present 
time, ' ' Let Congress hold its peace, adjourn, go home and leave the 
President to act. " 

I for one believe that the Congress of the United States is an 
equal and coordinate branch of the Federal Government, repre- 
senting the combined judgment and wisdom of the many. It can 
more safely be depended on than the individual judgment and 
wisdom of any one man. I am a Senator of the United States, 
and I will never consent to abdicate my right to participate in the 
determination as to what is the solemn duty of this great Republic 
in this momentous and fateful hour. We are not in session to 
hamper or cripple the President; we are here to advise and assist 
him. Congress can alone declare war; Congress can alone levy 
taxes; and to this Congress the united people of this broad land, 
from sea to sea, from lake to gulf, look to voice their wishes and 
execute their will. 

VOICE OF THE MONET CHANGERS AGAINST INTERVENTION. 

Mr. President, against the intervention of the United States'in 
this holy cause there is but one voice of dissent; that voice is the 

3165 



13 

voice of the money changers. They fear war! Not because of 
any Christian or ennobling sentiment against war and in favor 
of peace, but because they fear that a declaration of war, or the 
intervention which might result in war, would have a depressing 
effect upon the stock market. 

Mr. President, I do not read my duty from the ticker; I do not 
accept my lessons in patriotism from Wall street. I deprecate 
war. I hope and pray for the speedy coming of the time when the 
sword of the soldier will no longer leap from its scabbard to settle 
disputes between civilized nations. But, it is evident, looking at 
the cold facts, that a war with Spain would not permanently de- 
preciate the value of a single American stock Or bond. 

"War with Spain would increase the business and the earnings 
of every American railroad, it would increase the output of every 
American factory, it would stimulate every branch of industry 
and domestic commerce, it would greatly increase the demand for 
American labor, and in the end every certificate that represented 
a share in an American business enterprise would be worth more 
money than it is to-day. But in the meantime the specter of war 
would stride through the stock exchanges, and many of the gam- 
blers around the board would find their ill-gotten gains passing 
to the other side of the table. 

Let them go; what one man loses at the gambling table his fel- 
low-gambler wins. It is no concern of yours, it is no concern of 
mine, whether the "bulls" or the "bears" have the best of these 
stock deals. They do not represent American sentiment; they do 
not represent American patriotism. Let them take their chances 
as they can. Their weal or woe is of but little importance to the 
liberty-loving people of the United States. They will not do the 
fighting; their blood will not flow; they will keep on dealing in 
options on human life. Let the men whose loyalty is to the dollar 
stand aside while the men whose loyalty is to the flag come to the 
front. [Applause in the galleries.] 

HONOR OF THE NATION ABOVE ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS. 

There are some who lift their voices in the land and in the open 
light of day insist that the Republican party will not act, for they 
say it sold out to the capitalists and the money changers at the 
last national election. It is not so. G-od forbid! The 7,000,000 
freemen who voted for the Republican party and for William 
McKinley did not mortgage the honor of this nation for a cam- 
paign fund, and if the time ever comes when the Republican 
party hesitates in its course of duty because of any undue anx- 
iety for the welfare of the accumulated wealth of the nation, 
then let the Republican party be swept from the face of the 
earth and be succeeded by some other party, by whatever name 
3165 



14 

it may be called, which will represent the patriotism, the honesty, 
the loyalty, and the devotion that the Republican party exhibited 
under Abraham Lincoln in 1861. 

Mr. President, there are those who say that the affairs of Cuba 
are not the affairs of the United States, who insist that we can 
stand idly by and see that island devastated and depopulated, its 
business interests destroyed, its commercial intercourse with us 
cut off, its people starved, degraded, and enslaved. It may be the 
naked legal right of the United States to stand thus idly by. 

I have the legal right to pass along the street and see a helpless 
dog stamped into the earth under the heels of a ruffian. I can pass 
by and say that is not my dog. I can sit in my comfortable parlor 
with my loved ones gathered about me, and through my plate- 
glass window see a fiend outraging a helpless woman near by, 
and I can legally say this is no affair of mine — it is not happening 
on my premises; and I can turn away and take my little ones in 
my arms, and, with the memory of their sainted mother in my 
heart, look up to the motto on the wall and read, " God bless our 
home." 

But if I do, I am a coward and a cur unfit to live, and, God 
knows, unfit to die. And yet I can not protect the dog nor save 
the woman without the exercise of force. 

We can not intervene and save Cuba without the exercise of 
force, and force means war; war means blood. The lowly Naza- 
rene on the shores of Galilee preached the divine doctrine of 
love, "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men." Not peace on 
earth at the expense of liberty and humanity. Not good will 
toward men who despoil, enslave, degrade, and starve to death 
their fellow-men. I believe in the doctrine of Christ. I believe 
in the doctrine of peace; but, Mr. President, men must have lib- 
erty before there can come abiding peace. 

Intervention means force. Force means war. War means 
blood. But it will be God's force. When has a battle for human- 
ity and liberty ever been won except by force? What barricade 
of wrong, injustice, and oppression has ever been carried except 
by force? 

THE PART FORCE HAS PLAYED IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY. 

Force compelled the signature of unwilling royalty to the great 
Magna Charta; force put life into the Declaration of Independence 
and made effective the Emancipation Proclamation; force beat 
with naked hands upon the iron gateway of the Bastile and made 
reprisal in one awful hour for centuries of kingly crime: force 
waved the flag of revolution over Bunker Hill and marked the 
snows of Valley Forge with blood-stained feet; force held the 
broken line at Shiloh, climbed the flame-swept hill at Chattanooga, 
S165 



15 

and stormed the clouds on Lookout heights; force marched with 
Sherman to the sea, rode with Sheridan in the valley of the Shen- 
andoah, and gave Grant victory at Appomattox; force saved the 
Union, kept the stars in the flag, made " niggers " men. The time 
for God's force has come again. Let the impassioned lips of 
American patriots once more take up the song: 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigured you and me, 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
For God is marching on. 

Others may hesitate, others may procrastinate, others may plead 
for further diplomatic negotiation, which means delay., but for 
me, I am ready to act now, and for my action I am ready to answer 
•to my conscience, my country, and my God. 

Mr. President, in the cable that moored me to life and hope the 
strongest strands are broken. I have but little left to offer at the 
altar of Freedom's sacrifice, but all I have 1 am glad to give. I 
am ready to serve my country as best I can in the Senate or in 
the field. My dearest wish, my most earnest prayer to God is 
this, that when death comes to end all, I may meet it calmly and 
fearlessly as did my beloved, in the cause of humanity, under the 
American flag. [Long continued applause in the galleries.] 
3165 



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